War: Sacrifice for the Sake of Sacrifice

The loss of a Navy SEAL who was killed on Saturday while rescuing an American doctor held prisoner in Afghanistan underscores that the U.S. military action in Islamicist Asia is based on selflessness, not on our self-interest.

The SEAL's name is Nicolas D. Checque. He was 28 years old. He came from Monroeville, Pennsylvania. Nicolas reportedly died while trying to rescue an employee of a faith-based organizationpredicated on helping others in Afghanistan. According to the New York Times, the rescued prisoner, Dr. Dilip Joseph, who lives in Colorado Springs and frequently travels to Afghanistan, was captured by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban approximately 25 miles from a safe stretch of highway heading east from Kabul toward Jalalabad. The organization, Morning Star, pledges on its Web site, which currently advertises several job openings in Afghanistan, to offer a "comfortable and safe environment."

It did not keep that promise when its three team members returned from one of its altruistic missions of Christian mercy - Morning Star boasts that it is an evangelical Christian group - on Dec. 5. The religious group accepts the tenets of something called the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, which claims to be "committed to helping Christ-centered organizations earn the public's trust through developing and maintaining standards of accountability that convey God-honoring ethical practices". Among these practices: "Proclaim a Christian witness to the glory of God" and "reflect generally accepted biblical truths and practices." Any American has a right to be an altruist and exist to help others - in the name of any lunacy including basing its operations in Afghanistan - and certainly the U.S. military, as a proper function of government acting to defend U.S. citizens, should rescue Americans from harm from our enemies.

But contrary to any ethical principles based on human life on earth, Morning Star, which incidentally does not help others in any country except Afghanistan, consistently puts its employees in harm's way. In the context of the longest war in American history - an abomination of military involvement in which very little or nothing in our interest has been accomplished - with dreadfully anti-American rules of engagement which constantly put the lives of American military members at risk, Morning Star should cease its faith-based operations or continue its selfless activities at its own risk, refusing future help from the U.S. military. With our military being decimated by the Obama administration, which seeks to cut defense spending, and the threat of foreign invaders rising, not falling, we should not risk a single soldier's life under current rules in a primitive nation run by tribalists, warlords and religious barbarians. Be selfless on your own, and you're free to do so, but leave our Navy SEALs and other members of our great military free to fight where they might actually be permitted to fight back and defend U.S. interests.

The Obama government, of course, sees the death of Nicolas Checque as merely another sacrifice for the sake of others - a moral directive, sacrifice of self for its own sake, that guides Obama's administration in foreign and domestic policy. Obama's Defense Secretary said: "In this fallen hero, and all of our special operators, Americans see the highest ideals of citizenship, sacrifice and service upheld." And Obama, who lied about our military involvement in Afghanistan when he said we were leaving (we're not, as I observed here), disgustingly said this of Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque: "He gave his life for his fellow Americans, and he and his teammates remind us once more of the selfless service that allows our nation to stay strong, safe and free," which is also false. What allows our nation to be strong, safe and free is the opposite of selflessness: a military defense dedicated to the nation's self-interest in its every action, including and especially rules of engagement. Our military should stop being systematically annihilated by our leaders and instead be radically and urgently repurposed to uphold the highest principle of the nation; defense of America's self-interest.

This means fighting to live, not fighting to be sacrificed and die for the sake of others, especially not for the sake of others whose highest aim is the lowly biblical edict to sacrifice for the sake of others. Our soldiers, and the Navy's SEALs, deserve the proper purpose, military goal, and necessary rules and weapons, to pursue their happiness, too.

Self-described radical for capitalism Scott Holleran is a writer, blogger and journalist. His articles have been published in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Los Angeles Times and Wall Street Journal. Visit his Web site at www.ScottHolleran.com.

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